The European Parliament has revoked the immunity of France’s right-wing presidential candidate, Marine Le Pen, for posting graphic photos of Islamic State victims on Twitter.
The decision to lift immunity from Le Pen was taken by the majority of members in the plenary of the EU Parliament, Reuters reported.
READ MORE: EU lawmakers vote to strip Le Pen of immunity for tweeting pictures of ISIS violence
In December of 2015, Le Pen tweeted three graphic photographs of killings carried out by Islamic State (IS, formerly known as ISIS/ISIL), accompanied by the text “Daesh [Arabic term for IS] is THIS!” The tweets had been a response to journalist Jean-Jacques Bourdin, who compared Le Pen’s nationalist rhetoric to that of the Islamic terrorist group.
The picture showed the body of James Foley, who Islamic state beheaded in August of 2014. His family then said they had been “deeply disturbed by the unsolicited use of Jim for Le Pen’s political gain.”
Ludovic de Danne, the secretary general of the ENF (Europe of Nations and Freedom), the political bloc Le Pen leads in the European parliament, told RT that he is confident Le Pen “would win any potential trial in this case if it ever happens.”
“It’s a poor way of the EU globalists and an easy hypocritical excuse to target Marine Le Pen,” de Danne said, adding “like for the other attacks it’s the same maneuvers like against Brexit and Trump. The people are not blind anymore.”
According to the OpinionWay poll, released on March 2, Le Pen would be beaten by both independent candidate Emmanuel Macron and Republican Francois Fillon in the second round of presidential elections.
Le Pen, speaking to LCP TV network on Thursday morning ahead of EU parliament’s decision, said she has always been critical of IS.
“I am a politician, I play my role when I condemn Daesh. This is my role …. And I am sure that no one can prevent a politician, a member elected by the Republic to condemn Daesh atrocities. And in the meantime you persecute Marine Le Pen for it,” she said.
She added that “it is foolish” and even French National Assembly refused to lift the immunity from Gilbert Collard, a Member of the National Assembly, for the same reason. Collard reportedly tweeted a similar image on the same day and for the same reason.
“This is scandalous. This investigation is political against us,” she added.